Symonds, John Addington

Symonds, John Addington
born Oct. 5, 1840, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.
died April 19, 1893, Rome

English essayist, poet, and biographer.

He traveled extensively for his health, finally settling in Switzerland. His chief work, Renaissance in Italy (1875–86), is a series of extended essays on cultural history. His writings include translations, travel sketches, and studies of personalities such as Percy B. Shelley, Ben Jonson, Sir Philip Sidney, Michelangelo, and Walt Whitman. His poetry served primarily as a release from his difficult emotional life. A Problem in Greek Ethics (written 1871) and A Problem in Modern Ethics (1881) were among the first serious works treating homosexuality.

Symonds, chalk drawing by C. Orsi; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London

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▪ English writer
born Oct. 5, 1840, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.
died April 19, 1893, Rome [Italy]

      English essayist, poet, and biographer best known for his cultural history of the Italian Renaissance.

      After developing symptoms of tuberculosis while a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, Symonds traveled extensively for his health, settling in Davos, Switz., in 1880.

      Symonds' chief work, Renaissance in Italy, 7 vol. (1875–86), is a series of extended essays rather than a systematic history. Fluent and picturesque, it was deeply indebted to such continental interpreters of the Renaissance as Jacob Burckhardt. Symonds diffused his literary energies over English literature, Greek poetry, travel sketches, translations, and studies of such literary and artistic personalities as Shelley (1878), Ben Jonson (1886), Sir Philip Sidney (1886), Michelangelo (1893), and Walt Whitman (1893), of whom he was one of the first European admirers. Both his enthusiasm for the Renaissance and his recommendation, in Studies of the Greek Poets (1873–76), of Hellenism aligned him with the Aesthetic movement. His translations of The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella (1878, first English translation of the poetry of Michelangelo) and of Cellini's autobiography, 2 vol. (1888), are also notable. Symonds' own poetry was published as Many Moods (1878), New and Old (1880), Animi Figura (1882), and Vagabunduli Libellus (1884), his powerful love sonnets discreetly obscuring the homosexual nature of the erotic experience described. His A Problem in Greek Ethics (written 1871; privately printed 1883) and A Problem in Modern Ethics (privately printed 1891) were two of the first serious works on the subject of homosexuality. His Memoirs, which contain a frank account of his sexuality, were first published in 1984.

Additional Reading
Phyllis Grosskurth, John Addington Symonds: A Biography (1964, reprinted 1975).

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  • Symonds, John Addington — ► (1840 93) Ensayista y crítico de arte británico. Autor de El Renacimiento en Italia. * * * (5 oct. 1840, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Inglaterra–19 abr. 1893, Roma). Ensayista, poeta y biógrafo inglés. Debió realizar numerosos viajes por razones… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Symonds,John Addington — Sym·onds (sĭmʹəndz, sīʹməndz), John Addington. 1840 1893. British writer noted for his seven volume series The Renaissance in Italy (1875 1886). * * * …   Universalium

  • SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON —    , English man of letters, born at Bristol; educated at Harrow and Oxford; author of The Renaissance in Italy, a work which shows an extensive knowledge of the subject, and is written in a finished but rather flowery style, and a number of… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Symonds, John Addington — (1840 1893)    Writer on art and literature, s. of a physician in Bristol, was ed. at Harrow and Oxf. His delicate health obliged him to live abroad. He pub. (1875 86) History of the Italian Renaissance, and translated the Autobiography of… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • John Addington Symonds — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Addington et Symonds. John Addington Symonds, par Walt Whitman, en 1889. John Addington Symonds (5  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Addington Symonds — (October 5 1840 April 19, 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. He was an early advocate of the validity of male love which included for him pederastic as well as egalitarian relationships, and which he would refer to as l amour de l… …   Wikipedia

  • John Addington Symonds — John Addington Symonds, Bild für Walt Whitman, datiert 1889 John Addington Symonds (* 5. Oktober 1840 in Bristol; † 19. April 1893 in Rom) war ein englischer Autor, Lehrer und Literaturkritiker. Symonds war ein früher Verfechter der homosexuellen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Addington Symonds — John Addington Symonds, imagen de Walt Whitman fechada en 1889. John Addington Symonds (5 de octubre de 1840, Bristol, Gloucestershire 19 de abril de 1893, Roma) fue un ensayista, poeta y biógrafo británico …   Wikipedia Español

  • John Addington Symonds — noun English writer (1840 1893) • Syn: ↑Symonds • Instance Hypernyms: ↑writer, ↑author …   Useful english dictionary

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